The jar lid might be annoying but it's also an opportunity. When the honey is gone you can stick a piece of mesh in the lid and use it to sprout seeds!

If spoilage is still a problem with a day and a half sprouting schedule, you could just soak the seeds and grains overnight. You're not likely to have spoilage problems that way and the benefits will be pretty much the same. That probably isn't enough time for beans and lentils to grow out enough, so if you wanted to use those it would be best to cook them instead. There are only a few beans that can be used safely without cooking them.

If I leave seeds in the strainer, do I need to use a lid over the strainer?

Covering it up with something will help prevent bacteria and mold floating around in the air from settling on it. So I think it's a good idea to do it.

today in the morning it didn't seemed to be ready so I sprouted a little longer and thought it was ready in the afternoon. I don't think I had any problems this time, but I still have lots of questions. Forgot to mention - I stumbled with seeds in my hand when they were ready, and half the amount ended up on the floor, so I can say I did run into some problems

When we decide its ready, we don't rinse the last time, do we? Instinctively, I had a desire to rinse and I did, and water was dripping off the seeds when I wanted to give it to the birds. How do we give sprouts - should they be not soaking wet but rather dry, right? I thought I shouldn't rinse before I feed it.

Then, are birds supposed to dive in right away? mine looked sceptically and didn't touch it, even though I removed all other bowls with seeds from the table - they just found something else to eat.

Suppose I offered sprouted seeds in the morning in a bowl. What do I do after? Should I move seeds into the fridge when they are not eating? Or just discard after some time?

I always rinse it right before I serve it. That way if there's a bit of mold or bacteria in it, it will get washed out. If you let the water drain out for a couple of minutes it will be moist but not dripping wet.

This is a new food and most birds are skeptical about new things so they will have to learn how to eat it. The babies will probably learn faster than the adults. You can encourage them by tapping your finger in it like a bird pecking for seeds.

How long you can leave the sprouted seeds out safely will depend on the temperature, humidity, etc. So you'll need to smell them periodically in the beginning to make sure they're still OK, until you get an idea of how long they stay good in your environment. They usually stay good longer in the winter than in the summer because the temperature is cooler. I leave the sprouts with the birds until it's time to dispose of them, and then I throw them outside for the wild birds to eat.

the chick is born! the chick is born!
at first I heard "pips" that I thought eggs are making before hatching. I thought - 2 more days. But some time later I heard frequent pip noise from the nestbox. He probably just hatched when I looked inside. He looked tiny and red-ish. Mom still hanging around and probably doesn't know he is born. I expected them a little later.
BTW, what do u recommend to do with the egg shells? I heard all sorts of opinions - to remove them or to leave so parents can eat them. They didn't eat them the first time so I removed them much later.
I still have nestbox at the bottom of the old cage, and the new cage. It would probably make sense to combine everybody in the new cage... but I didn't do it. Where in the cage from Amazon do you mount nestbox?
At least 2 birds tried sprouted seeds today. They didn't look too excited though. What do you sprout, Carolyn? I bought sprouting mix from the bird store. what logically comes to my head is to soak seeds, after they been served for some time, in water with vinegar and rinse and drain and give them back. Not a good plan?

My goodness, I had no idea the eggs were so close to hatching! Congratulations on the new baby!

Cockatiels don't normally eat the eggshells and it's usually recommended to take them out of the nest. It's possible that an empty egg shell could get stuck on an egg that hasn't hatched yet and prevent that baby from hatching normally. The risk of this actually happening is low but it does happen occasionally.

It's OK to re-wet the sprouts if you want to. Just keep an eye on them to make sure they haven't spoiled. I buy human-quality grains from a natural foods grocery store and sprout those. They have them in big bins where you can buy as much or as little as you want, so I get a couple of ounces each of several different grains and sprout a little bit every day. The store usually has three kinds of wheat, barley, spelt, kamut, rye, oats, and buckwheat. There might be something else that I can't remember right now. I also add some lentils to the mix. I've tried sprouting rice but the birds don't care for it and like the other grains better.

I am reading in this thread that they started to incubate on the 24th of December and at first they had two eggs with other buried or not laid yet. So it's actually 19 days since that

Do your birds prefer sprouted grains to the seed mix, or you just never feed them at the same time?

I have a feeling that we will have the same story about parents being very picky in what they eat. Or well, maybe at the peak of growth they won't be very finicky. At least I have High energy breeder food (pellets). Last time only one of them was a little bit into pellets (ZuPreem fruit blend). Do you think I should buy it again so she could eat more pellets?

Colored pellets aren't my favorite for babies, but if it encourages the parents to eat more pellets I'd let them have some. I let my birds have some colored pellets even when they're breeding but I provide a lot more of the plain kind.

My birds have access to regular seed mix all the time and sprouted grains part of the time. They'll eat both, but they fight over the sprouts a lot more than they fight over the seeds lol. But my birds are already familiar with sprouts and yours are just learning. Since you have babies in the nest now your parent birds need to have access to any kind of food they're willing to eat, to make sure that the babies get fed. Do they like to eat cooked egg? If they do, you can mix a little bit of cooked egg in with the sprouts to encourage them to eat the sprouts as well as the egg. When I give my birds egg I mix it with the sprouts, and that's when they're most eager to dig into the sprout bowl.

No they don't eat eggs unfortunately but I will keep offering.

Have access to all sorts of food... can it happen all they will want to eat is millet spray and seeds? Or they know not to harm the chicks by unappropriated diet? and what about hmmm frozen and then toasted waffles? can they have some? and how about multigrain or sweet potato tortilla chips with low sodium that they love?

I don't know what to do with the cock for the night. He was spending nights in the new cage with the older chicks while hen was in the nestbox. Does she need his help to feed during the night?

Also, how long can the hen stay in the box without getting out? Until today her night shift was about 14 hours without food, water or pooping, which was concerning me.